Draft yoke



April 29, 1924. 1,491,806

" E. c. MCDOWELL DRAFT YOKE F iled Feb. 15 1922. 3 Sheets-Sheet l N I N N w- 5355 EEE fi /Md Cf April 29. 1924.

E. MCDOWELL I 1,491,806

DRAFT YOKE Fil d Feb. 15'. 1922 5 Sheets- Sheet 2 1 Patented Apr. 2%, 1924.

EDWARD G. MCDOWELL, F HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA, ASSIGNOR T0 CLIFTON W.

SHERMAN, 0'}? HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA.

DRAFT YOKE.

Application filed February 15, 1922.

T 0 all whom may concern: 4

Be it known that I, EDWARD C. McDownLL, a citizen of the United States, residing in Hamilton, in the county of Wentworth, Province of Ontario, and Dominion of Canada, have invented new and useful Improvements in Draft Yokes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a draft yoke for railway cars and has for its object the production of such a yoke which is strong and durable and capable of being produced at low cost, which is compact in construction and permits of readily and conveniently applying the coupler thereto as well as removing the same therefrom without disturbing the draft yoke and the parts associated therewith, which causes the buffing and pulling strains of the coupler to be transmitted directly to the yoke and thus relieve the parts which confine the coupler on the yoke from such strains, and to so construct the stops on the yoke for the cushioning mechanism that the same are not likely to be broken but enable the full width of the stops to be utilized when subject to strains, particularly when the followers of the cushioning mechanism are tilted when a car is moved on a curve at which time a side strain is imparted to the yoke which in the present construction is transmitted from one side of the yoke to the other and thus distributes the load across the entire width of the yoke and enable the same to resist breakage.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a draft yoke embodying one form of my invention. Figure 2 is a top plan view of the same. Figure 3 is a horizontal section on line 3-3, Fig. 1. Figure 4 is a vertical section taken on line 4-4, Fig. 2. Figures 5, 6 and 7 are vertical transverse sections taken on the corresponding numbered lines in Fig. 1. Figure 8 is a horizontal longitudinal section similar to Fig. 3 showing a modification of my invention. Figure 9 is a side elevation showing another embodiment of my invention. Figure 10 is a top plan View of the same partly in section.

Serial No. 536,760.

those bars for attaching a coupler thereto and forming a front stop for the cushioning mechanism and intermediate and rear stops for co-operation with said last mentioned mechanism.

The coupler, for use in connection with which parts of my invention are particularly designed, has a shank which consists of a reduced neck 18 and a vertically enlarged butt 1 f at the rear end of the neck which forms forwardly facing pulling shoulders 15, on'the front side of the upper and lower parts of this butt, and a rearwardly facing putting surface 16 on the rear end of this utt.

The means for connecting this coupler shank with the draft yoke are constructed as follows:

Projecting inwardly toward each other from the front ends of the draft bars are upper and lower vertical draft flanges or lugs 17, 17 which form upper and lower rearwardly facing pulling shoulders 18, 18, which are adapted to engage with'the forwardly facing pulling shoulders 15, 15 of the coupler butt. At a distance rearward or spaced from these flanges is a vertical transverse partition or wall 19 the front side of which forms a buffing face 20 which is adapted to engage with the rear buffing surface 16 of the coupler shank, while its rear side 21 forms a front stop for co-operation with the cushion devices interposed between the yoke and the car sills. On one side of the yoke is arranged an upright side wall 22 which connects the corresponding longitudinal edge portions of the bars between the front' flanges 17 and the partition while the opposite edge portions of these bars are disconnected and form an inlet 23 through which the butt of the coupler shank may be introduced horizontally and sidewise or laterally as well as removed from a pocket formed by the opposing surfaces of the bars, partition, draft flanges and side wall just described. When a shank is thus introduced in the pocket the upper and lower sides of the butt engage with the upper and lower bars, the front draft shoulders of the butt engage with the draft flanges of the draft bars, the rear end of the butt engages with the front side of the partition and one side of the butt engages with the side wall 22. The coupler shank and yoke are retained in. this relative position by one or material extent.

more retaining pins 25, preferably two, which are arranged vertically one behind the other and pass through corresponding openings in the coupler butt and the upper and lower draft bars, the heads 26 of these pins preferably resting against the top of the upper bar and the lower ends of the pins being provided with cotters 27 which prevent the same from slipping out of place, as best shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

The butt of the shank fits the pocket of the draft yoke so that the buffing and pulling strains are transmitted from the cou pler shank directly to the yoke and thus 5 relieve the retaining pins of shearingstrains.

The side wall 22 not only forms a means for conveniently limiting the transverse movement of the coupler shank in the yoke pocket but the same also aids in strengthening the yoke at its front end due to the connection between the upper and lower bars which is afforded by the side wall. In order to permit of readily driving the coupler butt out of the pocket when dismembering the parts in the event that the same become stuck together, an ejector opening 28 is preferably formed in the wall 22 at the rear end thereof where the omission of metal will not weaken the draft yoke to any Through the ejector opening a tool of any suitable character may be introduced to drive the coupler butt out through the inlet of the draft yoke on the opposite side thereof.

The intermediate or middle and the back or rear stops of this draft yoke may be variously constructed to accomplish the purposes of this invention, but each of these stops comprises generally two upright posts arranged transversely in line and each connecting corresponding parts of the longitudinal edges of said bars, and a horizontal transverse web connecting said posts be tween the upper and lower ends thereof.

In Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 6 each of the posts of the intermediate stop which is arranged about midway of the length of the yoke is of substantially I-form in horizontal section. In other words, the same has a longitudinal plate-shaped body 29 which is enlarged transversely at its opposite ends in the form of the head of the letter T as shown at 30, and between the upper and lower ends of these posts the same are connected by a horizontal transverse web 31. For the sake of lightness these posts and the web are provided with openings 32, 33, respectively.

The back stop arranged at the rear end of the yoke, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 7 comprises two upright posts arranged transversely in line and each having an inclined longitudinal plate-shaped body 34 and a transverse head or enlargement 35 at its front end, so that as a whole the same has the form of the letter T in horizontal sectiou, a curved wall 36 connecting the rear edges of the plates 34 and practically forming continuations of said upper and lower draft bars, and a horizontal transverse web 37 connecting said posts 34, 35 with each other and with said curved wall between the upper and lower ends of these posts. The body plates 34 and the web 37 of the rear or back stop are provided with openings 38, 39 for the purpose of reducing the weight of the yoke. The entire draft yoke is cast in one piece of metal so that there are no parts which are liable to become loose or detached. The front enlargements or heads 35 of the rear parts terminate short of the upper and lower draft bars, as shown at 40, thereby avoiding the formation of T sections in connection with the draft bars in this part of the casting which otherwise would render it difficult to produce a casting of this shape without developing shrinkage strains and a tendency to crack and weaken the casting to such an extent that its efficiency would. be reduced.

By constructing each of the intermediate and rear stops of two posts connected by a web in the manner described, a mutual bracing between these posts is produced which is particularly advantageous when the followers of the cushioning mechanism which are tilted more or less during the passage of the car around a curve causes each follower for a time to bear only against one edge of one post of the respective stop which ordinarily would be liable to break the same under unusually severe strains.

But in the present'case an undue pressure exerted against one edge of one post of a stop by the tilting of the respective follower of the cushioning mechanism will be carried partly to the opposite companion post by the web or spacer between the same, wher by the load is distributed over the two posts of the stop and the liability of failure under the strain is reduced to minimum.

This increased strength in the yoke is attained without any increase in weight of metal and without complicating the structure or increasing the cost of production.

Instead of making the posts of the stops of I or T-shape in horizontal section, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7, the posts of the intermediate stop may be of U or channel form in horizontal section, as shown at 41 in Fig. 8, and each post of the rear stop may be of L-shape form in horizontal section with the plates of both rear posts converging rearwardly, as shown at 42 in the same figure. In the modified construction of the yoke shown in Fig. 8 the side wall 43 of the pocket which receives the butt of the coupler shank is solid or imperforate.

If desired, the intermediate or middle stop may be omitted and the improved rear stop used in connection with the upper and lower longitudinal draft bars 44, 45 of a yoke which has its front end provided with side cheeks 46 which receive the coupler shank between them and which are provided with longitudinal slots 47 for the reception of a transverse key whereby the car coupler is connected with the yoke of the draft rigging.

I claim as my invention:

1. A draft yoke comprising upper and lower longitudinal bars, and a stop connecting said bars and comprising two up- I right posts arranged transversely in line between said bars and each connecting parts of one pair of the longitudinal edges of said bars, and a horizontal web connecting said posts intermediate of the upper and lower ends of the same, each of said posts having a longitudinal part and a transverse part.

2. A draft yoke comprising upper and lower longitudinal bars, and a stop con necting said bars and comprising two upright posts, arranged transversely in line between said bars and each connecting parts of one part of the longitudinal edges of said bars, and a horizontal web connecting said posts intermediate of the upper and lower ends of the same, each of said posts being of I-shaped form inhorizontal section.

3. A draft yoke comprising upper and lower longitudinal bars and a rear stop consisting of two upright posts each having the rear parts of its upper and lower ends connected with corresponding longitudinal edges of said bars, and having its front edge of T-form in horizontal section and disconnected at its upper and lower ends from said bars, a curved wall connecting the rear edges of said posts, and a horizontal transverse web connecting said posts between the upper and lower ends thereof, the longitudinal parts of said post converging rearwardly and said bars, posts and web being integral.

EDWARD O. MCDOWELL. 

